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Record of the Week: BARCELONA Extremo Nihilismo 12″

Several things set BARCELONA apart from any prospective peers. First and foremost, the powerful vocals from the singer of FIRMEZA 10, with some of the most biting, bilious and determined lyrics in recent memory. Meanwhile the drums circle around conventional hardcore, never quite settling into anything comfortable, coming across more often as a struggle than a direct assault. “Bomba,” for instance, plays for about fifteen seconds of a short and vicious song before sliding into a solid minute of despair. It might only be sixty seconds long, but in this context it acts as a lengthy statement: hypnotic, plodding rhythms undergird a wailing guitar expounding confused exasperation. This whole record feels like the cover artwork. Anxiety looms over each song (no subtlety or surprise as the album opens with “Ansiedad”), but so does anger—as esoteric as it is savage. Extremo Nihilismo is the defiant sum of its parts and its history: there is no mistaking this record as anything but the culmination of the best and most intriguing aspects of recent Spanish punk and hardcore. All in barely eleven minutes.
(La Vida Es Un Mus)